More on Pakistan Problems
Gen. Pervez Musharraf told his national security council today that parliamentary elections would be held before Feb. 15 and that he would give up his military uniform before taking the oath of office for his new term as president.As he made the statement, his security forces clamped down hard on the main opposition party of Benazir Bhutto, arresting as many as 500 party members last night and today, party workers and diplomats said. The arrests appeared to be an attempt to thwart a protest rally planned by Ms. Bhutto for Friday, the party workers and diplomats said.
General Musharraf, the president, did not set a specific date for parliamentary elections, and it was unclear whether the new timetable would satisfy opposition parties and Western governments, which had been demanding bluntly that he end emergency rule, step down from his post as head of the army, and that elections go ahead as planned. The elections had been scheduled for Jan. 15.
The arrests of Bhutto supporters obviously places his promises of elections in doubt. Pakistan is not a nation we can comfortably ignore if it slides further into autocracy, and it is still facing a very viable insurgency that could end up with an Islamist victory. What we can do to help in the situation remains somewhat unclear though.
My best option at this time would be to take a hard tack with Musharraf, cutting of aid and support until he moderates his current policies and also to have some plans ready to deal with Pakistan’s nuclear forces should an extremist lead revolution succeed.
